-Unknown stories about kpop stars such as BTS, EXO, BIGBANG, TWICE, BLACKPINK and more -Korean stars' real personality -With whom and how they date -How much they earn Aren’t you curious about k-pop stars’ real personality? Aren’t you curious about unknown stories about them? Here’s what you’ve been waiting for! Kpop Secret is released! Welcome to the real world of k-pop. We tried to include all the secret stories about Korean entertainment industry in Kpop Secret. We want to share all the stories behind k-pop stars with fans all over the world.

Minjoo is a 16-year-old girl who has always dreamed of being a k-pop star. Fortunately, she passes her 21st audition and becomes a trainee of Fish Entertainment, one of the biggest k-pop agencies. There she meets two handsome trainees, Minho and Giho, both of whom like her. And she continues her efforts to realize her dream. However, she’s faced with an unexpected ordeal. Can Minjoo realize her dream by debuting as a k-pop idol? And will she be happy together with her boyfriend? This novel has been reconstituted based on a true story. The author has been working as a k-pop journalist since 2010 and has heard many stories regarding k-pop idols’ love and dating. He included the stories in the novel, and the book also contains unknown facts about the k-pop industry.

This open access book examines the lived experiences of diasporic Korean youth in light of the transnational flows of South Korean popular culture, known as the Korean Wave, or Hallyu. Drawing on an ethnographic study of Korean Canadian youth and their engagement with the Korean Wave, the book proposes a critical understanding of the interactions between diasporic youth audiences and popular culture. By examining the Korean Wave as diasporic cultural practices rather than the diffusion of national cultural products, the book reveals the diversified ways in which cultural flows are negotiated by audiences who take up relatively ambivalent reception positions between two or more national and cultural contexts. This book expands the scope of transnational audience studies and youth cultural studies by focusing attention on the diasporic media practices of young people.

"I'm still giddy over this electrifying, big-hearted, all-kill smash of a debut. I couldn't put it down." -- Becky Albertalli, bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda In this romantic coming-of-age novel about chasing big dreams, a Korean-American girl travels to Seoul in hopes of debuting in a girl group at the same K-pop company behind the most popular boy band on the planet. Perfect for fans of Mary H. K. Choi and Jenny Han. Candace Park knows a lot about playing a role. For most of her life, she's been playing the role of the quiet Korean girl who takes all AP classes and plays a classical instrument, keeping her dreams of stardom-and her obsession with SLK, K-pop's top boyband-to herself. She doesn't see how a regular girl like her could possibly become one of those K-pop goddesses she sees on YouTube. Even though she can sing. Like, really sing.So when Candace secretly enters a global audition held by SLK's music label, the last thing she expects is to actually get a coveted spot in their trainee program. And convincing her strict parents to let her to go is all but impossible ... although it's nothing compared to what comes next.Under the strict supervision of her instructors at the label's headquarters in Seoul, Candace must perfect her performance skills to within an inch of her life, learn to speak Korean fluently, and navigate the complex hierarchies of her fellow trainees, all while following the strict rules of the industry. Rule number one? NO DATING, which becomes impossible to follow when she meets a dreamy boy trainee. And in the all-out battle to debut, Candace is in danger of planting herself in the middle of a scandal lighting up the K-pop fandom around the world.If she doesn't have what it takes to become a perfect, hair-flipping K-pop idol, what will that mean for her family, who have sacrificed everything to give her the chance? And is a spot in the most hyped K-pop girl group of all time really worth risking her friendships, her future, and everything she believes in?

This book is about K-pop dance and the evolution and presence of its dance fandom on social media. Based on five years of ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, choreography, and participation-observation with 40 amateur and professional K-pop dancers in New York, California, and Seoul, the book traces the evolution of K-pop dance from the 1980s to the 2020s and explains its distinctive feature called ‘gestural point choreography’ – front-driven, two-dimensional, decorative and charming movements of the upper body and face – as an example of what the author theorizes as ‘social media dance.’ It also explores K-pop cover dance as a form of intercultural performance, suggesting that, by imitating and idolizing K-pop dance, fans are eventually ‘fandoming’ themselves and their bodies. Presenting an ethnographic study of K-pop dance and its fandom, this book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Media Studies, Korean Studies, Performance Studies, and Dance.

She thought that debuting in a K-Pop band was the finish line, but it was only the beginning. Because now it’s not only her company judging her—it’s the entire world. If K-Pop Confidential was about finding your voice, K-pop Revolution is about finding the courage to stand by your beliefs, even when powerful forces are trying to shame and silence you. In the sequel to K-Pop Confidential, Candace is a Rookie idol. Her life is suddenly filled with the fans, cameras, and glamor of stardom: She and her boyfriend, YoungBae, are a K-Pop power couple; she’s a walking icon at Brandt Foreign School; and her new girl group, known simply as THE GIRLS, is poised to break records across the industry. With her status as the industry’s K-Pop Warrior, she has all the clout at her disposal to make waves. Right? Her label, S.A.Y., promises to help make the sweeping changes for the industry to become a more humane and compassionate place for artists. But what will happen when the road to a record-breaking debut isn’t as smooth as they’d planned? When a rival girl group emerges to steal the spotlight, carrying the message of change better than Candace ever could, she’ll have to decide what it’ll cost her and her bandmates to stand up for their beliefs. And as the world turns against her, with online bullies scrutinizing her every word, there’s only so much that one person can take. From the top of the world to the brink of disaster, Candace is going to have to figure out why the world is out to get her. And she’s not going to be able to do it alone. How far does one girl need to be pushed to start a K-Pop Revolution?

Women We Love: Femininities and the Korean Wave is an edited volume exploring femininities in and around the Korean Wave since 2000. While studies on the Korean Wave are abundant, there is a dearth of thought put toward the female-identifying stars, characters, and fans who shape and lead this crucial cultural movement. This collection of essays is one of the first works to focus on gender and the key female actors of this global phenomenon. Using “women” as an inclusive term extending to all those who self-define as women, this volume examines the role of women in K-pop and K-drama industries and fandom spaces, encompassing crucial intersectional topics such as queering of gender, dissemination of media, and fan culture. In addition to the communities engaged with visual culture of the Korean Wave, the audience for Women We Love will reflect the contributors to this text. They are K-pop and K-drama fans, queer, international; they are also academics of Asian histories, sociology, gender and sexuality, art history, and visual culture. The chapters are playful, intersectional, and will be adapted well into syllabi for media studies, gender studies, visual culture studies, sociology, and contemporary global history. “Women We Love goes far beyond the dyad of the flower boy Hallyu star and his female fan to offer readers an illuminating discussion of plural femininities in the Korean Wave since the turn of the millennium. The essays will answer many burning yet heretofore unanswered questions about the affective resonances and political significance of Korean popular culture’s gender dynamics, which have fascinated, puzzled, and at times frustrated many fans and observers. Rigorously interdisciplinary, yet grounded in textual detail, historical context, and material reception practices, this is a timely and valuable contribution to the study of gender, fandom, and global media.” —Michelle Cho, University of Toronto “This is a provoking and fascinating book—one of the most awaited books in Hallyu studies. Drawing from a multitude of feminist theories and case studies, this edited volume not only provides captivating and much-needed discussions but also critically expands the current debates in gender studies, feminism studies, and fan studies. This book is vital literature for researchers, students, and practitioners who are willing to advance their understanding of the Korean Wave from a new scope and angle.” —Dal Yong Jin, Simon Fraser University